Isaiah 11.1-10
The Branch From Jesse
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord —
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.
Matthew 3.1-12
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the desert,
Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Prophecy Fulfilled
I wonder — if somebody asked you, “Why should I believe in Christianity?”, what would you say to them? If they were a genuine inquirer, really asking, “Why is it that you believe Christianity? What do you think are good reasons that I should believe it?”
For me, one of the impressive elements of Christianity is the many, many ways in which Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament in quite remarkable ways. Some of these were things he had control over — actions he could take, like those in the temple. But some were things he had no human control over: what family he was born into, or where he was born. It is amazing that he fulfilled all those Old Testament prophecies — even in areas where he could have no human control.
New Life and Fruitfulness
One of those areas, as I’ve mentioned, is the family that he was born into — the family of King David. At the beginning of some of the Gospels, they make a big thing about Jesus’ genealogy: the fact that his ancestors stretch all the way back to David, and therefore to Jesse. That’s why it’s so important that our reading from Isaiah 11 begins with these words:
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a branch will bear fruit.”
This is a prophecy from Isaiah about the coming Messiah — God’s anointed Saviour King. The royal line of David is here described as coming from David’s father Jesse. And Isaiah prophesied that when the Messiah comes, the royal line of David will look to everyone like a cut-down tree — merely a stump.
When Lucy and I arrived at the vicarage in 2021, they’d done some cutting down of trees — perhaps a long time ago, I’m not sure. But in the middle of the front lawn there is a stump. When we arrived, it looked completely dead. They’d done a good job of chopping it down. But over the last four years, a couple of little shoots have started to come out of it. It’s clearly not completely dead — it’s starting to grow back. You may have come across that yourselves.
This, says Isaiah, is what it will be like with the Davidic line when Jesus comes. It will seem as if the Jewish royal family is dead and gone — and yet Jesus will be the little shoot coming up out of something that looks dead. Jesus fulfils this prophecy wonderfully. Not only does he come up out of something that looks dead, but also he will bear fruit, verse 1 tells us.
Bearing fruit in the Bible has to do with bringing spiritual sustenance. Jesus comes not only to bring new life to the royal line of David, but also to bring new life to all God’s people. And this image reminds us that although something may look dead, God can breathe new life into it. We may feel like the Church of England — maybe our own churches — are waning. We’d like to see young people coming along, to see signs of new life. Well, God is doing this. He is breathing new life into something that doesn’t look as though it’s going to last forever.
We need to keep praying — that’s why we meet on Tuesday evenings — to pray, keep praying and working for such fruit to come, even in our day and in our benefice.
The Character of the Messiah
The next section of Isaiah’s prophecy describes the character the Messiah will have, starting in verse 2:
“The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
Here we have a wonderful early Old Testament picture of the Trinity. In verse 2, the Holy Spirit of the Father will rest on him, the Son. Amazing! In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit was only ever a visitor — coming to empower people temporarily and then leaving again. But Isaiah says that when the Spirit comes on the Messiah, he will rest upon him. He’s not going anywhere — he’s come to stay. The Holy Spirit will give the Messiah everything he needs to be the perfect King and ruler — particularly wisdom and understanding, gifts of the mind and of insight. And note the punchline in verse 3:
the Messiah will delight in the fear of the Lord.
The Bible often repeats this theme — that the beginning of all wisdom and understanding is the fear of the Lord. To “fear” means to recognise as powerful and impactful. And so the Messiah will rule rightly, because through the Holy Spirit he will rightly acknowledge God as the one who is most powerful and most consequential for all mankind. This spirit-given attitude will result in righteous deeds. The Messiah will judge rightly — not with what he sees with his eyes. He won’t be swayed by appearances or favouritism, but will judge justly.
In those days, kings often failed in this duty. They showed favourites, took bribes, and refused to hear the cases of the poor and unimportant. But the Messiah will be different, says Isaiah. He will judge the needy; he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. To “judge” here doesn’t mean to condemn — it means to hear their case that nobody else will. Isaiah hints that this will be worldwide:
“He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.”
The Messiah’s righteousness will be like a belt around his waist, and faithfulness the sash around him.
Don’t we feel this deep longing for good leadership? Our headlines are full of examples of just the opposite. And although we may moan about Trump, Starmer, or the leadership of the Church of England, let’s be honest — none of us would do a significantly better job. The ultimate issue is not with those leaders themselves, but with the sinful human condition that produces their limitations and ours. That’s why Isaiah’s vision is so miraculous — because the Messiah doesn’t suffer from these limitations. Jesus is both man and God, and so he can rule perfectly.
There are several implications here.
First, we should never put our trust entirely in human leadership. We get so upset about leaders’ failures because we over-emphasise their importance. We’re fearing human leadership rather than the Lord.
Secondly, all of us are leaders in some sense — by our conduct and our words. If we are to be good leaders, we must be more like Jesus, the perfect leader. To do this, the Spirit of the Lord must be upon us. That’s why our personal prayer and Bible study are so important.
Prayer isn’t just bringing a shopping list to God — it makes us more like Jesus the more we do it. Prayer opens us up to the power of the Holy Spirit, giving us wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, and delight in the Lord. When we read the Bible together in small groups, we’re allowing the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus. So please do come along to the prayer meeting and to the small groups advertised in the pew notes.
The Peace of the Messiah’s Kingdom
In the last section of Isaiah’s prophecy, from verse 6 onwards, we read of the wonderful results of the Messiah’s perfect leadership. Even the natural world will be at peace:
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat… the cow will feed with the bear… and a little child will lead them.”
Conflict will be extinguished by the Messiah so profoundly that even creation itself will be free from strife. Of course, that isn’t the case right now — the world is still full of predation and conflict. So how does Jesus fulfil this prophecy?
Prophecies like this have two stages of fulfilment — a now and a not yet. When Jesus first came, he inaugurated this peace spiritually, among his people, the Church. Those who once would have been enemies — divided by class, race, or background — now live in peace with one another in him. But the prophecy will reach its complete fulfilment when Jesus comes again. Advent reminds us of both comings — his first and his second. When he returns, he will bring perfect harmony and righteousness to the world, and “the wolf will lie down with the lamb.”
In that wonderful new creation, all nature will be in harmony. There will be no more death or destruction:
“They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
This is a glorious picture of the final state of humanity in heaven — when we will all know the Lord perfectly, and the whole earth will be covered with his peace. As we think about this, we should pray that the Holy Spirit helps us to give a sneak peek of heaven in the way we live and interact with others. It’s scandalous if we are acting like wolves — preying upon others, arguing, or harbouring antagonisms in our hearts. Our peaceful lives are meant to be a small picture of this fulfilment — shining out what it will be like when the Messiah fully returns. Then antagonism will be a thing of the past, and God will wipe every tear from our eyes.
Advent Hope
This time of Advent is a time of hope.
Yes, we suffer in this life — with bodily aches and pains, mental and emotional anguish, for ourselves and for others. But all this reminds us that this world is not our home. We look forward to that moment when the wolf will lie down with the lamb. And if we put our trust in Jesus, we can look forward to that wonderful future day. In the blink of an eye, the Lord will return — either with our own death or when he comes again.
And what a glorious, eternal future will begin in that moment.